The collaboration and innovation for the progress in micro-chip technology will help monitor bees, ensuring safe crop pollination, according to experts.

 

The progress was outlined by farming industries and food security at large and scientists at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA), which concludes today (February 17) in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

 

Professor Paulo de Souza, office of the chief executive science leader, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, delivered a compelling presentation at the GFIA on the rapid and unprecedented decline in honey bee population and provided a progress update on the work undertaken by the Global Initiative for Honey Bee Health (GIHH).

 

“We are struggling to fully understand the reasons for the bee decline and we must change the way we conduct science,” he said.

 

Manually attached to bees, the micro-chips allow the identification of individual insects which record their movements and generate data allowing researchers to detect and understand the threats to the bee population and find solutions to help secure crop pollination.

 

”In the next decade the world will need 60% more food and 84 per cent of global crop production relies on pollinators. The bees pollinate the fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts we eat, and in a worst case scenario, food security is at risk,” said De Souza.

 

To address this issue, the GIHH, an international collaboration network of scientists, beekeepers, farmers, industry and technology companies including Intel, Hitachi Chemical, and Nissin Corporation, was launched last year and bees micro-chipping became the core focus of the research endeavour.

 

“Scientists and beekeepers at GIHH share the same technology, similar experimental protocols, openly share data and will publish results together. Embracing innovation in collaboration with scientists and governments is the key for a sustainable future,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, self-sufficiency and sustainability in farming, and progressing environmental threats were two core themes underlined throughout the two-day conference, under the theme, ‘Rethinking Global Food Security.’

 

Secure and safe farming was also in the spotlight during a panel discussion of the key signatories of The Declaration of Abu Dhabi for Global Food Security through Good Agricultural Practices. 

 

It focused on debating standardisation systems available to farmers worldwide to promote sustainability in the face of progressing global warming.

 

The conference concluded with focused sessions on safe animal production, renewable energy solutions in horticulture, as well as alternative approaches to sustainable aquaculture feed led by experts from 17 countries. - TradeArabia News Service